It Can't Be
by Wolfhound159
Summary: Daniel Pierce is back in the Psychiatric Hospital. The doctors keep telling him something, only, he doesn't believe its true. How can he? Why would he? Will he?


It Can't Be

"Okay, Daniel," Doctor Caroline Newsome whispered to him. "I want you to start over from the beginning."

Daniel looked at her incredulously. He was so tired of arguing with her for the past three months.

"Please?"

He turned his head, looking out to the window as he tried to explain. "I first met her in one of my classes. She was eager to learn. Her smile was always radiant, brighter than the sun. Her black hair would cascade in soft waves and shimmer in red hues. She was the first student I actually bothered to figure out what her actual name was."

Caroline smiled as she started to write down on her clipboard.

"Kate Moretti was my best student. After she graduated, she went to Quantico for FBI training. 6 months later, and she shows up at my doorstep, asking for some insight on a case she had with a witness suffering from a brain situation."

"She asked for your help?"

"Yes."

"You never asked why?"

"Always. She would respond that she really needed my help and that she missed my insights."

"Tell me what happened when she had to go to Washington D.C. as part of her promotion."

"I was getting to that. When she left, I had… an… episode. I was out of my mind. That's where I met Lewicki, and he became my assistant, but he lived in my home and he grounded me when I was starting to lose myself."

"Sounds awfully nice of him. To help you in times of need."

"That's Lewicki for you." He smiled slightly, reminiscing.

"And she returned. Didn't she?"

He looked at her, "Yes."

"What happened?"

"She was demoted and sent back. She, once again, needed my help."

"So, you strayed from your rigorous schedule to be with her?"

"Yes. I-I couldn't admit it when she was my student, but, I had developed a slight crush on her. And as time progressed, I fell in love with her."

"Then what happened?"

"Her ex husband returned. H-He cheated on her with her best friend. What kind of asshole does that?" He looked at Dr. Newsome, furious, "Anyway, he wanted to return to her. And she gave him another chance."

"And that upset you."

"Of course it did. I loved her, and she deserved someone better than Donnie."

"Someone like," Caroline elongated the silence between her sentences, "You."

He looked at her frustrated, "No. She deserved someone better than Donnie AND me. I-I'm no good for her. I'm a broken mess and having her take care of me is only torture for her."

"All right. So then what happened?"

"She was killed. I-I couldn't protect her."

"How did she die?"

He remained silent, not wanting to remember that night of pure agony as he watched her die in his hands.

"Daniel? How did she die?"

"She called me in the middle of the night. She was sobbing; I couldn't make out much of what she said. She only told me an address and begged for me to go and meet her there."

"And you went?"

"Of course I did."

"And what happened?"

"When I arrived, she was lying by her car. When I walked closer, that was when I noticed the blood. There was so much blood. It was everywhere. And it was hers. Her lips were white, and she had tear marks falling down her cheeks."

"Well, why was she bleeding?"

"She wouldn't tell me, she was just there, begging me not to call the ambulance or the cops."

"Why not?"

"I don't know."

"Yes, you do."

He looked at her, enraged. "I DON'T KNOW."

"Well, why didn't you just ignore her pleadings and call the ambulance, since she needed it?"

"I wasn't thinking straight. Not when she looked so small, so fearful and pale."

"What happened?"

"She just cried. When I sat down next to her, she fell into me, and I held her."

"For how long?"

"Minutes. At least, it took her minutes before she died. It took me almost half an hour to call the cops."

"And what happened when the cops arrived?"

"They were stupid and blind!" He bit out harshly, "They kept telling me to calm down and that I was idiotic and childish for calling the cops for nothing."

"Okay. Why did you strike that officer?"

"I had to make them see! I had to make them open their eyes and see that they needed to focus on her and who killed her, not to try to get me to go home."

Caroline Newsome paused, letting their silence fill the gap. She focused on Daniel and he focused on her, his leg never ceasing its tremor. She reached up and fixed her glasses before setting her clipboard down beside her on the counter.

After a long moment, she finally broke the silence, "Daniel-"

"No." He interrupted, "Stop right there. I know what you're going to say, and it's NOT true. It CAN'T be true."

"Daniel it is." She whispered as he fervently shook his head, "You have to face the facts and realize that I'm telling you the truth."

"No!" He shouted, his eyes filled with tears, "It **can't** be true. It can't!"

"Daniel, listen to me." She spoke sternly, as if speaking to a child, "just because it's true doesn't mean that the feelings you felt were wrong or false. It's just her."

"STOP IT!" He yelled at her.

"Daniel, I'm sorry."

"Please," he begged. His tears were flowing freely now as he ran a shaking hand through his brown hair. He shook his head softly, his eyes pleading as he stared down Dr. Newsome. "Please."

"Daniel, it's the truth." She whispered; her voice full of pity towards him as she watched his defenses crumble.

He covered his face with his hands resting on his knees. His shoulders quivered with each sob that escaped his lungs and each whimper that slipped out of his cracked lips.

"Daniel, there was no record of a Kate Moretti **ever** existing." She spoke the same phrase she had been trying to get him to understand since he entered her care under court order. "She was just another hallucination of yours. A good one. A brilliant one. One that you loved and trusted with your life. But a hallucination nevertheless."

"No," He whispered, in between sobs, "She was real. She had to be real. She- She…"

"She never existed." spoke the Doctor. "Kate Moretti was a figment of your imagination and nothing more."


End file.
